“It is unbelievably exciting to be involved in such an amazing experience”

Fundraising at Tesco’s last weekend, with an intriguing Olympic relay torch on display…

Giselle Fitzsimmons of Tuffnells in Plymouth is set for an exciting 2016…

“I sing in the Military Wives Choir in Plymouth and we have been invited to sing at Carnegie Hall.  As you can imagine this is a huge honour and we are so very excited to have this invitation.”

Plymouth Military Wives Choir, one of 75 such choirs in the Military Wives Choir Foundation now established around the world

From the official Military Wives Choir press release:

We are thrilled to be reuniting with Royal Composer, Professor Paul Mealor. Letters to and from loved ones, inspired Paul to write our 2011 Christmas number one, Wherever You Are, which raised over £650,000 for SSAFA and The Royal British Legion. Paul also went onto write In My Dreams for the Military Wives Choirs, which we performed at the 2012 Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.

Being a member of a Military Wives Choir provides us with all sorts of support and friendship and we think that a musical challenge to sing on the stage at Carnegie Hall will be an exciting and rewarding experience.

Each singer is responsible for raising their own money to go on this trip and we are currently raising funds from various events to help us on our way to cover our costs which include meeting the performance fees, travel and accommodation.

Festive fundraising

Giselle has news of hers and Plymouth’s fundraising efforts so far:

“Last weekend we raised £778.08 at our local Tesco Extra store for singing Christmas songs, and again on Sunday we sang at a big Christmas Fayre and raised £352.62, so not a bad weekend for fundraising. We are selling our dresses and items on eBay to raise money. We have our charity pots out at the gigs we are singing at, and so far have raised approx £1800 for the Plymouth choir.

Can you please help us get across the water to take part in this once in a lifetime trip?! We have a gofundme page  to help raise money for the 125 girls from all the choirs around the country. It would be fabulous if people could help with our fundraising by putting some pennies in our virtual collecting tin 🙂

Any funds raised above the amount to meet our expenses will be donated to the Military Wives Choirs Foundation.

The Plymouth choir in their formal attire

The rehearsals for New York start next month in a central location where we can all get together to rehearse and make sure that we are absolutely tip-top. These will be recorded, and from there the production team that film for the BBC will be involved if they decide it will make for good viewing!!

As you can imagine, it is unbelievably exciting to be involved in such an amazing experience. I have been in the choir for 3 and a half years (just missed the Christmas no.1 …gutted), but the places I have sung and people I have met are phenomenal. I am just a normal wife [and mother] of my wonderful sailor and I would certainly never have had these opportunities had I not been with my exceptional choir. ”

The very best of luck Giselle and be sure to let us know how you get on!